WHY HOME?

If you’ve read our mission statement, or listened to us rattle off what we are all about at Beth-Biri, then you’ve probably heard a few of these key words:

Family — Healthy community — Safe place — Home

To some, these words don’t make sense together, or coincide in any way. Could a ‘family’ be healthy? Could ‘home’ really be safe? 

To others, these words have been their experience at some point, either through a happy or healthy upbringing, or a redemptive current circumstance.

Whatever your reality is or whatever your automatic response is to these words, we invite you to open your mind – beyond even your most positive experiences! Why? Because we believe family is more than just a design or a strategy, it is the answer. We were made for family, and when family is done well, we encounter our greatest freedom. 

I have been blessed with a loving, supportive family – a mum, dad, brother and sister who I have walked with through all different times and seasons. There have been days where, in our adolescent pettiness, my siblings and I froze each others’ underwear or fought over who got to sit in the middle seat. There have also been years where my parents have fought to provide for my dreams. There have been times where, now matured, my family and I have grieved together and sought each other for comfort or assurance, and there have been seasons of celebration over one another’s victories and milestones. 

For me, however, home was something less tangible. We moved frequently as I grew up, and I became well acquainted with ever-changing friendship groups and fresh starts. Though I became highly skilled at navigating these relocations (and, I believe, they trained me for my years to come), I recognised late in my teen years that I had little grip on where to call home – Australia or New Zealand? This house or that house? Then, as I traveled through Europe, feeling ‘homesick’ after the first few months, I began asking, ‘Why?’

I understood eventually that home for me was more about the people I associated with than a house in which I slept, but as I developed ‘family’ around the globe, my idea on which specific location to call ‘home’ was once again in question. 

Now, three years down the track, eight ‘houses’ later (it’s a sad reality), and three months into living at Beth-Biri, I have come to this. Home is not a place. Home is the warm feeling in your belly when people really see you. Home is the security to express your heart and to freely laugh. It is the safety net when we get things wrong and mess up, and the porch light left on when we arrive late. To some, ‘home’ is found in the peaceful sound of waves, knowing they can just listen and be, and to others, ‘home’ is a person that receives them in this way. To me, my home and my safe place is knowing I am where I came from – within the heart of God, in His family. 

We pray that you will ‘feel at home’ at Beth-Biri – more than just kicking your shoes off or making yourself a tea, but experiencing the truest taste of ultimate belonging. Welcome to our family.